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spirit of the Greek drama. The unity of place »is not noticed .as might have been expected from the probable absence of all scenic embellishment. The unity of time is curiously modified, conformably to a principle which may satisfy the most fastidious and the time required for the fable elapses invariably between the acts. In practice, there is generally less latitude than the rule indicates and the duration of an act is very •commonly that of representation, the night elapsing in the Interval."
The Hindu drama confines itself " neither to the crimes -nor the absurdities of mankind ; neither to the momentous ^changes, nor lighter vicissitudes of life ; neither to the terrors of distress nor the gaieties of prosperity." They interweave sorrow and seriousness with mirth and levity. The Hindus in rfact have no tragedy. " In truth, however,-' says H. H. Wilson u the individual and social organisation of the native of India is unfavourable to the development of towerijag passion and whatever poets or philosophers might have intimated against .the contrary, there is no doubt that the regions of physical •equability have ever been and still are those of moral extremes."
CHAPTER VI. THE DRAMATIC WRITINGS.
The Sanskrit drama must have been in cultivation at least the sixth century B. C. But no drama of the centuries before the Christian era has come down to us. Foremost among the reasons that can be adduced to account for the loss of this dramatic literature stands the fact of the absence of a pro-r iper machinery of preservation. The multiplication of M S S*ave or comic character, are biting, scratcWng, kissing, • eating, sleeping, bath and the marriage ceremony.